The Red Devil
by Kali and Mimi
Summary: In which Ran finds someone who shares his favourite story.


The Red Devil  
  
When he was younger, his favourite story had been that of the Red Devil. He had first read it in a battered old picture book he had found in a dusty corner of the library, and when he got older, he bought his own copy with his allowance money. He could never explain to anyone, including himself, why he liked that story so much. Aya-chan hated it: she thought it too sad, and always cried when she heard it. He stopped reading it to her after a while, and she eventually forgot about it. His parents were not too fond of the story either, especially Okaasan. She would always smooth his hair back, and tell him to find a new favourite story, because she didn't want her Ran to live like that. So he started to share the story with fewer and fewer people, but he never let it go entirely. It was hidden amongst the rest of the books in his bookshelf, carefully tucked away between two larger books, protected from the dust and the sunlight. But for all the care he took, it gradually became dog-eared from too much reading, and the older and more damaged the book became, the more he treasured it, handling it gently each time he removed it from its place on the shelf. It was his alone, he had never met anyone who liked it as much as he did, but it always made him feel a little lonely when he wanted to share it with someone, and there was no one he could talk to. Aya-chan could always talk to Okaasan and Otousan about her favourite stories. She liked funny, silly stories, but they held no attraction for him, and he couldn't make himself like them, no matter how much he tried to. The Red Devil was good enough for him, and he stuck by it faithfully. But then he grew older, and other things demanded his attention, and the Red Devil lay forgotten in its hiding place, until it was found, many years later, by the flames that had consumed his life.  
  
So it had been a shock to him, after visiting the bookstore near Aya-chan's hospital, to find a copy of the Red Devil again. Reading it again, he could finally understand what had drawn him to it so much when he was younger. He bought another copy of it, and this one rested, no longer hidden, on his bedside table, although no one would ever see it but himself. It never grew dusty, and it too, became worn, as the years passed by. Sometimes he thought the Red Devil looked at him reproachfully from the cover, asking him why he did not share his story, but he still had not found anyone who he thought would like it as much as he did, so he would promise the Red Devil that when he found that person, he would tell the story. And the Red Devil would look back at him with a grave expression in his eyes, until he had to look away.  
  
It should not have surprised him when he found Ken in his room, reading the story of the Red Devil. He had been hurt, badly enough to take him out of action for a few days, and Ken had elected to look in on him every once in a while, just to see if there was anything he could do to help. He had fallen asleep during one of Ken's visits, and Ken, left alone to entertain himself, had picked up the tattered book. When he had awakened, he could not quite bring himself to ask Ken what he had thought of it, but then Ken had looked down at the book he held in his hands, handed it over to Ran, and told him quietly that when he was younger, he had owned a copy of the Red Devil too. And Ran, looking up at him, could not stop himself from thinking of a song he had heard a long time before.  
  
kono sora kara oiteoide  
ima boku ga mierukai  
kikoeru darou boku no koe ga  
gin no tsubasa de tondeoide  
  
Notes:  
  
Y'all knew where this was going, right?  
  
I wrote this after seeing 'Tokyo Godfathers.' For those of you who haven't seen it, the story of the Red Devil comes from Hana. There was once a Red Devil who wanted friends, but because he was a devil everyone was scared of him. One day, the Red Devil's friend, the Blue Devil, came up with a plan to help the Red Devil make friends. The Blue Devil pretended to terrorize people so that the Red Devil could "save" them and become accepted, but in order for the plan to work, the Blue Devil had to go away forever.  
  
The lyrics are from 'Sora no Soko,' sung by Koyasu Takehito, which played repeatedly while I dashed this story out. They won't seem very appropriate I suppose, but I like them. Anyway, they translate to this:  
  
After descending from that sky,  
can you see me now?  
Can you hear me, I wonder? My voice  
flies away on silver wings.  
  
I should have fixed the story up some more, but I got lazy since I just finished exams, so the story is pretty much unedited, as I'm sure you can tell. 


End file.
